Tiller wary of extending season

December 13, 2007|AL LESAR Tribune Staff Writer

When Joe Tiller gets a marching order from Purdue University president France A. Cordova, he marches. Whether he's happy about it or not. Wednesday, the Boilermaker head football coach said he's ready to march along in step with all the other Big Ten football coaches in accordance with the new directive that: Starting in 2009, the season will include a bye week and will finish the Saturday after Thanksgiving. ... Even though he's not in favor of it. "The coaches group voted not in favor (of extending the season beyond Thanksgiving)," Tiller said. "(The decision) was a little bit of a surprise. The coaches group was not consulted. I'm not even sure the (athletic directors) were (consulted). It was the presidents' decision." Tiller said the coaches have been in favor of a bye week, but not at the cost of the late finish. Their solution was to hope the NCAA would relent on its mandatory first Saturday in September start. "We've played in August before, several times," Tiller said. "That would be the best solution. "If a (player) goes to summer school, and that's just about everybody on the roster these days, (Thanksgiving) is the first time they're able to go home since June." All Tiller and his coaching counterparts can do is shrug their shoulders and live with it. A total of 103 of the 119 schools, though, in the Football Bowl Subdivision did have a game scheduled Thanksgiving week or later. Only the 11 Big Ten schools and five other teams finished on Nov. 17 this season. The Boilermakers got a taste of what post-Thanksgiving regular-season football was like last season, when they followed up their Old Oaken Bucket game with Indiana with a 13th game, a trip to Hawaii. It wasn't necessarily a vacation. "Some coaches have talked about playing their rivalry game the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and finishing with (a non-conference game)," Tiller said. "From my experience, that's a big mistake. "Early in the week (before the Hawaii game), it was difficult (to get the players ready), coming off the Bucket game and all. If you're playing your rivalry game, at least you'll keep your guys interested. It won't be anti-climactic." There's also the weather in Big Ten country late in November. "That time of year, there's probably more than a 50-50 chance that the weather's going to be bad enough that it could impact the outcome," Tiller said. Weather or not, the march will go on.